Adding items to the store gives the moderation team an opportunity to make sure there are no issues with base plugins, or harmful code to protect users.
If the theme xml file hasn't been changed to reflect your key, and theme info, it could cause issues in the database.
It's good that you have been inspired to participate in development. Adding the item to the store makes it easier to implement updates for the members. I started the same way, and finally made use of my work by making it officially available in the store. I'm not a developer by profession. I'm just a Oxwall user like everyone else. I just like to play around with the themes on my test site. Everyone has a hobby to occupy them. Mine is a little different.